The invention relates generally to two-part articles, which advantageously and safely combine two parts of sheet material, one part of metal, and the other of metal, glass or plastic.
One embodiment of the invention more particularly relates to polygonal two-part articles, such as collectible trading cards (e.g. baseball trading cards), bookmarks, and similar articles, of various sizes and shapes.
Traditionally, collectible trading cards have been made of thin cardboard, with a photograph on one side, and information printed on the other side.
Recently, for permanency and enhancement of appearance, it has been proposed to make such cards of lithographed sheet metal, for example as is disclosed in Miller U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,792. A disadvantage, recognized in the above-referenced Miller patent, is that a raw piece of sheet metal contains sharp edges and corners which would make such a piece unsafe for use as a trading card. In view of this, Miller proposes a construction wherein the edges are folded to form flat hems presenting radiused surfaces at least on the outer edges of the card, leaving unfolded edges only at the corners, which unfolded edges are short in length.
Another disadvantage of the card construction disclosed in the above-referenced Miller patent is that the malleable characteristic of metal is not fully utilized for maximum decorative effect. This, while Miller provides a raised framing border, central regions of the card are unembossed. In general, decorative raised surface embossing on the front of the card would result in relatively unattractive depressions on the rear side, which depressions moreover likely would not correspond or align with indicia such as writing on the rear side.
In my above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,964, there is disclosed a metallic trading card construction which combines an embossed metal front with a rear insert sheet made for example of cardboard. The rear insert sheet is retained by rolled edges of the metal front and, among other functions, conceals depressions on the rear side of the metal front piece resulting from decorative raised surface embossing. Further, high quality printing is possible on paper-based materials such as cardboard.